Preinkert: the woman behind the building

By Michal Antonov
April 9, 2017

Credit: The Diamondback

COLLEGE PARK, Md. When you enter Preinkert Field House, the inside is
polished and painted. The floors have green and white tiles, and the walls
look like theyve never been scratched. But go deeper, and see why students
become uneasy once inside.

The building has wood floors and plaster walls. Theres not a lot of light
inside, ever during the day. And you can hear every sound in the building,
from footsteps in the basement to someone flushing a toilet in the bathroom.

It was pretty sketchy on the inside, said Aliza Silverman. We decided no

one should walk around alone.

Silverman and her Israeli dance group, Avirah, once used the dance studio in
Preinkert Field House for rehearsal. She said that the dance studio fit all their
needs in terms of quality and space.
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Preinkert Field House was built in 1931and named the Womens Field House,
due to the growing number of female students. Ritchie Coliseum was also
constructed at the same time, but many facilities on campus were
segregated by gender.

The building was named after Alma Preinkert, who served as campus
registrar from 1936 until her death in 1954. She was sleeping when an
intruder broke inside her Washington, D.C. home. She tried to stop him from
ransacking her home, but was stabbed multiple times. She was 58 years old.
The suspect remains unidentified.

Preinkert began working at the University of Maryland as a clerk in 1923

before becoming the registrar. At the same time, she was pursuing a
masters degree and a doctorate. Preinkert was indeed a leader for female
students on campus, and she pushed these students to be leaders as well.

The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun covered Preinkerts death, as
well as the events that followed. Rev. J. Victor Murtland spoke at Preinkerts
service and called her a leader in civic affairs who spent her life in service to
mankind.

Today, the building serves as a location for various student activities as well
as offices for university organizations. On the ground floor right near the
entrance sits the main office of the National Center for Smart Growth
Research and Education. This organization established four subunits that are
dedicated to providing resources to local communities on healthy
environment and sustainability: The Environmental Finance Center, the
Transportation Policy Research Group, the Center for Use of Sustainable
Practices, and the Housing Strategies Group. All of these units have offices
on the ground floor of Preinkert.
The Womens Field House was officially renamed in 1954. And when
organizations such NCSG do their work to help others, it feels like Preinkerts
spirit never left.

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